Like Mother, Like Daughter
by insaneantics21
Summary: There were many things Quinn hoped her daughter learned from her. Getting pregnant at sixteen was not one of them.


Another one from a prompt on LJ. This time from the angst meme.

* * *

Quinn can only blink. That's all she can do.

Rachel squeaks and her jaw hangs open. She stops breathing.

Daisy "Drizzle" Fabray sits in the armchair across from her mothers and stares at her lap.

Rachel finally starts breathing again but she still doesn't speak.

Quinn opens and closes her mouth a few times.

Finally, Quinn stands up and walks out of the room to the kitchen. Rachel follows close behind and motions for Drizzle to stay where she is. Rachel finds Quinn in the kitchen leaning over the sink scrubbing dishes. The blonde's facial expression is blank, completely unreadable even for Rachel who has been by her side for sixteen years.

"Quinn?"

"I am not the only one in this house that knows how to use a dishrag," Quinn scowls and rinses off the plate she's just washed. "Why am I always the one that ends up doing the damn dishes?"

Rachel steps over to her wife and goes through a drawer to grab a towel. She quietly dries the dishes in the rack and starts stacking them on the countertop. When the sink is empty Quinn takes the stack of dishes and starts putting them away, Rachel leans back against the counter and nervously chews on her lower lip.

"Quinn…what are we going to do?"

Quinn slams the cabinet door shut and glares at Rachel. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"We need to help her make a decision about this."

"I did fine without someone making decisions for me. Obviously she's just fucking like me so she'll be fine."

"I never said we needed to make the decision for her, sweetheart. I said we need to help her. We need to give her the support that you didn't get from your parents. Whatever she decides to do we need to guide her and support her. If that means taking her to the Women's Health Clinic or contacting an adoption agency or buying a crib, we have to help her."

Quinn's cold, emotionless expression leaves her face and Rachel immediately recognizes disappointment. She wraps her arms around her wife's shoulders and pulls her in. Quinn just sighs.

"What did I do, Rachel? What did I do wrong? I really thought I raised her better than this…she knows, she _knows_ how hard it was for me…for both of us. And that douchebag of a boyfriend of hers isn't going to stick around."

"Quinn, honey, no!" Rachel pulls away and grips onto Quinn's shoulders. "This is not your fault. We gave her condoms, whatever her reasoning was to not use them has nothing to do with how we raised her."

"We should have put her on the pill," Quinn mumbles. "I'm going to kill him."

Drizzle appears in the doorway, wringing her hands and tears streaming down her face.

"Mom…please," the young girl begs. "Please…I'm so sorry. I was so stupid…H-he said he used one every time. I-I should have listened when you when you told me to make sure…I'm so sorry."

Rachel releases Quinn from her grip and hugs her daughter. Quinn stands back and crosses her arms over her chest, her disappointed expression remains.

"What are you going to do?" Quinn asks coldly.

"I don't know…what should I do?"

Rachel opens her mouth to speak but Quinn cuts her off.

"You made the decision that started this. You make the decision how to finish it. You know your options." Quinn walks passed her daughter out of the kitchen and Rachel hears her go up the stairs and slam their bedroom door shut.

"Momma," Drizzle says quietly "…I can't do this. I'm not strong like she is…I can't take care of a baby or take care of myself long enough to give it up. I can't. I-I want to keep dancing…I don't want this!"

"Okay," Rachel nods and holds onto the inconsolable young blonde. "Okay, baby girl. I'll call this afternoon and make an appointment, okay?"

Drizzle nods.

Quinn doesn't leave the bedroom all day. Rachel calls the women's clinic and schedules an appointment for the next day. She knocks on the bedroom door repeatedly but Quinn has it locked. It's not until late that night that she unlocks it so Rachel can come to bed. Quinn won't talk, she just rolls over and turns out her light and leaves Rachel with her arm outstretched and her mouth turned into a frown.

"Quinn, we're leaving," Rachel says the next morning when she goes into the kitchen to get a few pieces of fruit for her and Drizzle's breakfast. Quinn looks up from where she's on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. "Quinn, your baby girl needs her mother right now. Please come with us."

Quinn shakes her head and goes back to her scrub brush. "I can't, Rachel."

"Why? Because you think she's wrong?"

Quinn swallows hard. "I don't think she's wrong. Go, you're going to miss the appointment."

Rachel nods and walks out of the kitchen. Quinn hears the front door slam and she drops her scrub brush and cries into the kitchen floor.

Drizzle squirms nervously in her seat while Rachel fills out paperwork and hands over her debit card. They wait patiently, the young blonde's head resting on her mother's shoulder. The bell on the door rings and Rachel glances over to see a blonde woman looking around the room. Rachel nudges Drizzle and the young girl stands up and locks eyes with her mother. Drizzle's lower lip quivers and Quinn quickly wraps her arms around her baby girl and lets her daughter cry into her chest.

"It's okay," Quinn whispers. "I'm here, okay?" Quinn pulls her daughter back to the seats and sits with her arm around her shoulder. "Are you sure about this?"

"I can't have a baby, Mom. I can't. I'm not strong like you, I'm not ready for this."

"You are strong, baby girl. You were strong enough to tell us and you're strong enough to admit you're not ready."

"You think I'm wrong, don't you?"

"Just because it's not the decision I made doesn't mean I think you're wrong. You changed my life…and it was hard. It was really, really hard. I always wanted your life to be easy, D. I always wanted you to have support that I never had. So…I'm here. I'm here and I am sorry for almost not being here. You may be sixteen but you are my baby girl and nothing will ever change that."

The young girl clings to her mother until she's called back to the procedure room. Quinn and Rachel walk with her and wait outside the door. Quinn paces and Rachel leans against the wall.

"What changed your mind?"

Quinn stops. "If I tell you something you can't ever tell her."

Rachel nods.

"I know what it's like to be in that room. I know what it's like to sit there and listen to the doctor talk about what she's going to do and not know who you can talk to when it's over with. I know she can talk to you…but I know she will panic if she doesn't have me, too. I had no one to go to after…which is why I didn't do it."

"You were going to…?"

Quinn nods. "Before I told anyone about it. I knew I couldn't just do it and go on with life and I had no one waiting outside of that door for me so I left. I don't want her feeling the same way."

They wait until the doctor pokes her head out the door and allows them to come in. Drizzle is sitting up on the table looking down at the floor. She's a little pale and kind of sweaty. A nurse comes in and takes her vital signs and tells her it's normal since she was so nervous. They wait until they have an all clear from the doctor and Quinn wraps an arm around her daughter's shoulders and drives her home, Rachel follows. Drizzle spends the rest of the afternoon curled up on the couch staring into nothingness.

Drizzle ends things with her boyfriend that week after finding out that he had not only been lying to her about using condoms but had also been cheating on her. Rachel and Quinn take her to get tested for anything and everything and relief isn't a strong enough word when all of the tests come back clear. Quinn runs into the boy three weeks later at Ikea. She is banned from the store and almost arrested when she threatens him with the brand new carving knife she has in her basket. When Quinn explains her motive to the would-be arresting officer the woman nods and says she completely understands and Quinn is allowed to leave. She hugs her daughter when she gets home and when Drizzle finds out what happened and she isn't happy about it Quinn just shrugs and tells her that someday she'll understand. Just not anytime soon.


End file.
